Favre opens up in wide-ranging magazine story

We mentioned in a previous blog Favre's interview with Men's Journal writer Stephen Rodrick. Men's Journal sent us an advanced copy of the story and it is extremely revealing and colorful.

The issue hits newsstands on Friday and Favre gave Rodrick tremendous time and access at his home in Mississippi. Here are a few excerpts that we found particularly interesting.

-- Favre's agent Bus Cook was irate that Favre told ESPN's Ed Werder about his ankle surgery this offseason. Rodrick was present during a colorful exchange between the two. Rodrick also reports that Vikings coach Brad Childress called Cook to find out what was going on, unaware that Favre was going to have surgery. Cook tells Childress that Favre's ankle surgery is minor and that it wouldn't be a deciding factor in whether he played this season.

-- Favre talked in detail about the loss to the Saints in the NFC Championship game and his interception at the end of regulation when he forced a pass to Sidney Rice by throwing across the field.

“The previous week against the Cowboys, we did the same exact play to Rice,” Favre told Rodrick. "We were up about 25 at the time, so it was different. He came back to me on a broken play, and we got 20 yards. This time, when I let it go, I’m thinking he’s going to come back to me. As he drifted farther and farther away, I could see the corner come in from the other side, and I’m thinking, Oh, [shoot].”

“As a player you’ve got to pull the trigger,” Favre added. “You can’t say, Well, is he going to do what I think he’s going to do? He wasn’t wrong, and in some ways, I wasn’t either.”

Favre was criticized for taking a gamble at such a crucial time. Rodrick wrote: "Some say it’s the Football Gods settling the score for his yearly tease."

Responded Favre to the criticism: "They were the same people who said I’d suck all season. I don’t worry about that. A lot of plays go into a game; that was just one of them.”

However, Rodrick writes that Favre brought the subject up again a different day.

"Sometimes I say to myself, An interception? A whole year of making great decisions and it ends on an intercep­tion? You have got to be kidding me.”

-- Favre talked about the fun he had last season, which was arguably the best of his career. He threw 33 touchdown passes and only seven interceptions. "I’ve had games when I almost threw seven picks,” Favre told Rodrick, laughing. “It was unreal. Before last year, I’d reached a point where I was sitting in meetings with guys 15 years younger than me thinking, What the hell am I doing here? Football became work. But last year it went back to being a game.”

This is only a small sampling of Rodrick's piece. Again, the issue hits newsstands on Friday.